JULEN LOPETEGUI has admitted to being reduced to tears as he left Wolves.
The Spaniard dramatically walked out on the Molineux club just three days before the start of the Premier League season.
Lopetegui, 57, had taken pre-season, but was replaced by Gary O’Neil following a difference of opinion with the board.
The former Real Madrid and Spain boss has been unemployed since leaving Wolves, but is now ready to return to the dugout.
Opening up on his Molineux departure, he told The Athletic: “Something changed.
“And once things changed, more than I could have thought, it was then a case of deciding what to do.”
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He then continued: “It was not easy for me. It was a pity. I remember a lot of workers, and us too, we were crying.
“The environment and the commitment that we have created at Wolves in a short time is not normal. And I remember this with a big, heavy heart. This was special.”
On what happened to make him leave, he added: “[It’s] for the club, not for me. They have their reasons and I respect all of their reasons.
“They decide what they want, but they can decide this and I can decide my future and my life.”
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Lopetegui hoped to compete in the top half of the Premier League table, having saved Wolves from relegation last term.
But under the current conditions set by the club’s owners, he didn’t feel he could achieve his goals.
He said: “But for different things, the club cannot do this kind of project. When we started pre-season, they told me that it’s impossible to develop this project. And we decided to part ways.
“I love all the workers, all the players and, above all, the fans — they have an incredible warmth towards me. I still live there, so I feel that.
“And I wish the best to the owners, to Gary O’Neil, to Matt Hobbs, to Matt Wild, and to all the players. I am always going to be a little wolf.”
Lopetegui won 10 of his 27 games in charge of Wolves after taking over from Bruno Lage last November.
His successor O’Neil has picked up four points from his first six games in charge, with Wolves sitting 16th in the Prem table.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
